Simple Paper Plate Crafts for summer

The summer holidays are just a round the corner and if you are like me you are beginning to panic a little about how to keep your children occupied over the long break. Which is why we had a hangout over on the NetMums channel today talking about Simple Summer Crafts you can make with your children from items that you already have at home. Based on my epic 150 Things to make with a paper plate post, I chose Simple Paper Plate Crafts for summer.

Paper plates are a great crafting tool: plain ones can just be drawn over as a paper alternative, coloured ones take steps out of crafting: use silver for spaceships, gold for crowns, patterned ones for backdrops or, as we did, pretty dreamcatchers. Cutting the centre from a paper plate widens its uses: we made the dreamcatchers, but used the same technique to do some weaving. You can also stick two together and make a frisbee. Or add one to a regular paper plate and make a porthole to another world- real or imaginary. Tune in to our NetMums Hangout to find out more about my craft suggestions.

Alternative craft tools demonstrated were my other favourite: the cork. Missie Lissie made some fabulous beetles bugs and butterflies (like the Charlie and Lola story) with plain old wine corks. I love them. But I do have a cork fetish.

Zing Zing Tree freaks me out with her ability to find shapes in egg cartons, and showed us her amazing shoes, not to mention a raft of things made from cardboard boxes.

Kids Chaos kicked the can. Not literally, and indulged in paint dipping whilst Rosie Scribble– on her debut craft hangout- made an awesome vase of flowers from bits she had at home. I applaud her work.

Maggy- guru and crafter at Red Ted Art– who kept us all on track, showed us how to shape cardboard tubes to make a ridiculous number of bugs, people and puppets from toilet roll inners.